Avatar: The Last Swordman
by OmegaZXA
Summary: Nearly a century after the Phoenix War, Avatar Aang is mysteriously assassinated. As the world begins to prepare for a new war, a new Avatar is chosen...but this one is a little unique. Full OC, with cameos of older characters.


**Note: This is what happens when you watch Avatar after seeing an indie film best described as "being made while on crack".**

**Over a century ago the world was on the verge of destruction, of being burnt to the ground by the Fire Nation and its crazed ruler Ozai the Phoenix King. Only by the hand of Avatar Aang, the last Air Nomad, was Ozai's mad quest put to an end. In the aftermath of the Fire Nation's surrender a new king was crowned, Ozai's rebellious son and close friend of the Avatar himself: Fire Lord Zuko. Ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity the new Fire Lord sought to bring the three cultures of Fire, Earth and Water closer than ever before, in the hopes that there would never again be violence between them on the scale which wiped out the Avatar's own people at the dawn of this hundred-year war. Emboldened by Zuko's words, a new movement began which would have greater repercussions than even the Avatar could have seen. Emboldened by the love openly shared between Aang and his Water Tribe lover Katara, people from the various cultures began to interbreed in a mass cultural shift now known as The Merge. Where once were three divided races now came a whole new generation of children whose families still held strict cultural differences between them, causing many of these new families to either separate themselves from their parents or be disowned by them, leaving many of these small families to band together.**

**The greatest impact of this new movement would not be felt until years later, when the son of a Fire-bender and Water-bender showed an amazing ability to manipulate both elements, a power unheard of in any but the Avatar before. Soon enough many children of Benders started to show off their abilities, and when the next generation of children arose many of these kids had the power of all three elements at their disposal. As these families grew in number, these "Mergers" as they were called began to form greater and more expansive communities, until finally a new nation was formed: The Empire of Life. At the same time many other families remained restricted to their own people; calling themselves "Purists" those who remained bound to one of the three cultures kept a wary eye on the Empire of Life, training their children exclusively in their country's power. It soon became well-known that although Merger children could access different elements, their powers paled in comparison to those of Purist children raised solely on their natural element. With the rising tension came another startling realization: As more and more people joined the Mergers there were fewer Purists left who were born unable to use any element, while the greater number of dual-element or triple-element users within the Mergers also left very few offspring without power. The few who remained, the so-called "Naturals", became like a fifth race to themselves, ostracized by their communities and cut off from society.**

**As the decades passed Avatar Aang watched these events unfold from afar with a heavy heart, his beloved Katara and their children at his side. Knowing that not even the Avatar exists forever Aang began planning for the rebirth of the Air Nomads, in the hope that his descendants would bring rebirth to the lost culture and create a world where the four elements existed in harmony with everyone. To that end he recorded everything he knew about Air-Bending, about the Avatar state, and about all he had witnessed in his unique lifetime. He also recorded the ancient Spirit-Bending technique in a secret scroll, hidden even from his beloved, and buried it in a place only the most determined would find it. His greatest and most dangerous weapon, Aang had prohibited the teaching of Spirit-Bending to all but one of his closest friends, knowing all too well how much the technique could either overpower or destroy the user. Leaving his old friend with the decision of who, if anybody, he would pass the technique down to, Aang created a series of seals that could only be broken by the combination of all four elements and placed them upon the scroll's location as a final security measure. With his darkest secret buried Aang focused the entirety of his life into rebuilding the Air Temples, focusing first on the Eastern Temple.**

**Sadly, the Avatar's work was cut short by an unknown hand: having barely finished reconstruction of the first Air Temple Avatar Aang met his end at the hands of an unknown assassin, who had somehow been able to permeate the Avatar's iron-clad defenses. The assassin soon met their own disastrous end however, as they were pierced through the heart and cast from the window of the cliff-hugging Air Temple by a spear of solid ice, courtesy of a distraught and enraged Katara. Summoning the Avatar's allies by every means possible his beloved wife informed them of the Avatar's untimely demise, and it was not too long after that rumors of his death circulated throughout the world. Never had any funeral held such a crowd as Avatar Aang's, as people from all four nations from every walk of life gathered to mourn the loss of a great hero, and more importantly a great friend. It seemed like only moments later when malice and doubt began to spread however, as the question of the assassin's identity became the focus of everyone's attention. Friend turned against friend, and nations began to once again prepare themselves for war, as new theories and rumors flooded the streets, each more violent than the last. Soon enough, the four nations began to amass vast armies of Benders in preparation for the eventual conflict, leaving many Naturals concerned about where their place in this new world would be after the war. As the months passed and conflicts escalated millions waited in the hope that a new Avatar would be born; but without the Air Nomads and their art this miracle seemed to be forever lost. And so the world watched in fear and paranoia, waiting for the day when worldwide war would break out, a war many began to call the Last Avatar War. Unbeknownst to most the Air Nomads had begun anew in secret, thanks to the offspring of Avatar Aang; and so a new Avatar was indeed born unto the world, but unlike those who came before this Avatar's power did not emerge immediately. Instead it would wait, boiling up within the host of its newest incarnation for years, until the time the world needed them most…**


End file.
